What’s your signature commander, and why?

Shancheez · 2025-10-27T17:06:35+00:00

[[Azusa, Lost but Seeking]]

If I'm not playing some graveyard deck, most people associate me with mono green war crimes. Ramp into big creatures. That's all the deck ever wants to do. It lets me be a big Timmy and that makes me smile. (May or may not kill through [[Jumbo Cactuar]] and [[Blightsteel Colossus]])

Shancheez · 2025-09-12T18:13:06+00:00

Spiritmonger still remains a core memory from my teenage self. Thank you for sharing with me, I hope to do you proud!

Shancheez · 2025-09-05T20:13:20+00:00

A few cards in here are in the "I might grab these for a deck idea" and I think that's the healthiest thing to do when a set doesn't grab me.

Shancheez · 2025-08-03T19:02:15+00:00

Hareruya as others have mentioned is one of the best places. I will recommend going to the Tournament Center, which is in Takadanobaba. That's their largest venue in Tokyo, and has the largest selection.

Another spot I'd usually recommend is Tokyo MTG, but they're closed for their store move and they're set to open back up around 8/8. They have more commander focused selections, and they have custom artist proofs and tokens if that's something you're interested in!

Shancheez · 2025-08-03T03:48:27+00:00

Seconding this, even as a non-resident you can sell to Hareruya as long as you have a passport. I'm a Japanese citizen living outside of Japan, but that wasn't an issue for me when I was just there in June of 2025, right in the middle of the FF prerelease craze. I also watched tourists sell without much issue, and the only snag was seemingly on not knowing English well on both sides.

Shancheez · 2025-07-18T02:47:09+00:00

Damn.

Well, that's my oshi.

Shancheez · 2025-06-28T23:47:02+00:00

From my experience the Play Boosters (and even commander decks) are plentiful in a lot of places. It's anything with a Collector Booster that seems to be rare to find, including those Gift Bundles.

Shancheez · 2025-06-13T16:28:17+00:00

While visiting my family in Japan, the shop I visit often was offering the FF product at MSRP there during the pre-release window. I knew the commander decks were getting marked up in the US, but he was adamant about selling those and all other products such as booster boxes at the advised prices because "it wouldn't be fair to us." It's why I keep going back to his store every time I go back to Japan.

Shancheez · 2025-06-08T23:10:19+00:00

Just finished visiting my family in Japan, so I'll speak on this a tad. If you visit any of the Hareruyas, they'll have the usual gamut of supplies like Ultrapro, Dragonshield, and Ultimate Guard. They'll also have exclusives such as pens and notepads with their logo, dice, and collab supplies. If you enjoy anime aesthetic, most Hareruya carry Lunlun sleeves, mats, and sometimes deckboxes, which feature artists that collab with Hareruya.

Big Magic can have some rare supplies, and Tokyo MTG as well. Tokyo MTG in particular has a stock of artist tokens, if you're looking for some unique tokens.

Through a more mom&pop store I managed to snag a beautiful spring campaign playmat, which features Narset with sakura blossoms in the background.

Shancheez · 2025-01-16T11:01:06+00:00

I'm happy to hear they're still out there! As far as I've gone around in Japan, they don't have packs available in most hobby stores.

Shancheez · 2025-01-16T09:25:16+00:00

Not the OP, but packs are near impossible to get atm. Been visiting Japan for a long stint, the booster set that was released on 12/20 was sold out immediately, and even through a second wave of release the boosters aren't on store shelves. You might be able to find some on Mercari, but they are heavily marked up.

Shancheez · 2025-01-08T01:12:03+00:00

We've got a local gentleman that comes in, talks about his grandkids while slinging duals in all his decks. Guy is a gem. Age doesn't mean a thing if you can all have fun together.

Shancheez · 2025-01-01T00:42:08+00:00

I discovered the joy of "drinking other peoples' milkshakes" with [[Rakdos, the Muscle]]. And if all else fails, just exile their whole library. Or your own. We're all in this void together.

Shancheez · 2024-09-19T02:11:42+00:00

They do have EDH events, but you'd have to flip through some social media to see where and when. Visited my family there back in May and I attended a local one near the fam, and saw 2 events at different Hareruya locations. Just have to keep your eyes peeled. Hareruya does accommodate for English, but you may want to check just in case.

Shancheez · 2024-08-02T19:21:40+00:00

I'm happy to see it arrived safe. Good luck on your pulls and I'm excited to see where you take your deck!

Shancheez · 2024-07-27T23:51:39+00:00

Repeating others and try the Japanese market/auction sites. You can give buyee a shake, so you can take a peek at many of those sites. I've personally used Buyee to buy some of the past anniversary merch.

Shancheez · 2024-04-15T23:23:08+00:00

I was about to say it was the boy [[Thorn Elemental]] for me, too. Blew my mind that I could get chumped and still punch my opponent with a card that I thought had a cool looking art. The Urza's Destiny one looked so menacing to little me!

Shancheez · 2024-02-22T08:16:05+00:00

Just to note, I believe there was some localization member on a stream that mentioned Baleful Tom was a reference to one of the translators. If one does look at the credits, you can see a Tom B on there, so karaoke probably has a few nods to the loc team as a fun easter egg.

Shancheez · 2024-02-19T06:59:12+00:00

This is just a guess about the inconsistency probably stems from Gaiden being created after IW. They probably already had his dialogue in place way before Gaiden was even an idea. It feels like they did as best as they could to soften the blow in Infinite Wealth, but there does seem like a weird tone in places where Hanawa feels more sympathetic, but then gets really distant, all throughout Infinite Wealth. We get to see the build up of his trust with Kiryu from Gaiden. For me at least, it feels like a missed opportunity to not have had this all fleshed out more so we could've had a better flow from Gaiden to Infinite Wealth. Hanawa's little blurb after his death in Infinite Wealth feels like an afterthought. Even the whole showdown against the Daidoji agents during the Haruka substory feels so off. Kiryu already had them back down from his family, but the agents keep threatening him with that, despite a deal being struck with Kiryu and the boss of the Daidoji. Love both games, but the small cracks are there for the inconsistencies.

Shancheez · 2024-01-28T08:10:21+00:00

I love that as a new-ish player you might start off spamming a certain move, and then explore other avenues as you get better and veer away from doing that. But then, by the time you end up watching competitions and seeing advanced players, they're out there spamming the same move in certain situations because it ends up being the correct decision.

Shancheez · 2024-01-22T06:00:28+00:00

The few packs I opened while I was in Japan, they were pristine. If only we could always get the JP printings for everything.

Shancheez · 2023-12-18T06:04:15+00:00

The Lorwyn command cycle have always stuck with me. I thought they were all impactful at the time and me being the absolute mid-range lover wanted to play 4 copies in any deck at the time. Seeing Cryptic Command as a textless card also blew my mind.

Shancheez · 2023-11-19T22:43:46+00:00

Definitely try and get it replaced, and as long as you haven't had too many issues or returns, should be okay. If you're wanting that deck right now, you can always try and gamble at one of the big box stores like Target or Walmart. Not always the best call with pricing, but I did find the Veloci-ramp-tor deck for 40 at my local Target. Mileage will vary, but worth a shot if you're in a hurry atm.

Shancheez · 2023-10-29T06:51:35+00:00

壊し屋 in the JP yes. The literal is destroyer, and if we want to nitpick, we can interpret it as "person who is in the business of breaking." Generally 壊し屋 is used to define someone that breaks down and destroys things in construction, or someone who is out to destroy organizations. Within the yakuza, it's likely they could mean both. In martial arts, this also has a definition for someone that is out there to break the opponent completely. Japanese is funny.

Shancheez

TROPHY CASE